Share this

This is one of those crises in Obama's political career which, in the past, has demanded a forceful speech in which eloquence is tempered by plain talk. The health care debate has been largely unintelligible to most Americans and it has caused them to fear the changes in health insurance.

In one of his first fireside chats on 24 July 1933, FDR said to the American people, "I will make it abundantly clear to you that all of the proposals and all of the legislation since the fourth day of march have not been just a collection of haphazard schemes, but rather the orderly component parts of a connected and logical whole" Obama has got to do that to get the American people on his side because their allegiance right now is up for grabs. He need to offer a simple diagram, a schematic of what this flurry of proposals amounts to and how it will affect their lives and well-being. It's got to be free of Washington jargon and delivered forcefully but with proper humility.

More POLITICO Arena

About the Arena

The Arena is a cross-party, cross-discipline forum for intelligent and lively conversation about political and policy issues. Contributors have been selected by POLITICO staff and editors. David Mark, Arena's moderator, is a Senior Editor at POLITICO. Each morning, POLITICO sends a question based on that day's news to all contributors.